The Oblivious Signature
by ttrq
Summary: It's been a while since the Sword Art Online and Alfheim predicaments have been stopped by one teenager, Kirito. And now, Kirito and Asuna have to begun to re-adjust to the real world. Which comes along with some unfortunate conditions. Now Kirito and Asuna have to deal with these unforeseen conditions.
1. Chapter 1

Hello, all. ttrq again. And I'm just here to say that this is the start of another story. I don't know where this one will go. I don't really have a goal. For my Naruto FanFic, I had a goal of 50,000 words. I didn't quite get to that. Really, the only reason I'm posting this is to see if you guys will like it. I know the second season was released three weeks ago in the U.S., so I figures it out this out there. If I can get a satisfying amount of people to say that they will read this story, I will continue with it. If not, I will simply not continue. (I'm going to use Kirito instead of his real name. Why? I would recognize Kirito faster than his real name, Kazuto.)

Chapter 1: 2 Months After

"Asuna….. I feel a little lightheaded. Give me a hand." Kirito had a bad headache. Like, really bad.

Today marked the two-month anniversary of Kirito rescuing Asuna from the world of Alfheim. And for those two months, everyone that was made it out of the world of Sword Art Online has been in rehab. Some recovered quicker than others. Some were still recovering. Some had not recovered at all. Some were in a comatose state still. Though they were not trapped in any other games. Kirito had breezed through rehab. As had Asuna. And now, they were admitted to go to a normal school. Live a normal life. And do what they want, after graduation next year. Both had just begun their school year at a normal high school.

"Of course. What's wrong? Can you tell me?" Kirito dropped his books. Most, if not all of his books hit the ground and opened. Papers spilled out of every page and pencils were rolling around the ground. Kirito was on his knees clutching his temples with his eyes closed, and a look of great pain painted on his face. "Kirito!" Kirito screamed. It was the scream of a dying man. It shook Asuna to the bone, and it petrified her. She could not move. His screams had hammered a nail into Asuna's feet, and nailed her to the ground.

"Oh My God! What's happening over here? Is he okay?" Mr. Mihoki, their chemistry teacher had heard the screams and came running. "Miss Asuna?" He snapped his fingers in front of her face. It removed the nails that had been hammered on her. "Are you okay?"

"I'm not the problem here. Kirito is. We have to get him to a hospital!" Mr. Mihoki nodded. More teachers and students alike came running to see what was wrong.

"Is he going to be okay?"

"What is happening to Kirito?"

"Does anyone know what happened?"

"I thought he had fully recovered, was I wrong?"

The voices swam in from all directions. Of course Kirito is going to be okay. Why would they think that he wouldn't? Questions were still bouncing off the walls. And every question hit Asuna like a bullet. They tore through her, destroying her. Ripping her to shreds.

Asuna felt a hand on her shoulder. It was her World History teacher, Mrs. Kamikae. "It's alright. Mr. Mihoki called an ambulance. It will be here in a minute or two. You should get to class. We can take care of this."

"No. I'm going with Kirito to the hospital. I need to stay by him." Mrs. Kamikae didn't like that idea. She frowned.

"Fine. You're going to have to make up the work later though. Don't forget to grab it." She turned to the students. "Go! Get to class! This boy will be fine!" She herded the students to their classes. Asuna knelt down next to Kirito, who was on the brink of consciousness. He wasn't screaming anymore. But he was moaning and grunting. He was obviously still in a great deal of pain.

"Excuse me, miss. We're going to have to move him onto the gurney." Asuna nodded and stepped away from her boyfriend. The two paramedics move Kirito's motionless body onto the gurney.

"Will he be okay?"

"We're not able to tell at this time. After all, I'm no expert at stuff like this. Leave it to the neurosurgeons to figure that part out." Asuna nodded. She was extremely scared. "We're leaving now. Are you coming in the ambulance with us?" Just then, Kirito let out his largest scream yet. "We're going. Hustle if you're coming with us." Asuna followed the two men out of the building. They were running.

Moments later, Asuna, a paramedic, and Kirito were speeding down the road toward the hospital. Kirito let out another scream. "Damn. This is really bad." He stuffed a piece of cloth in between Kirito's teeth to prevent him from biting down too hard. His hands had left his head. They hung limply at his side. Asuna grabbed his hand and squeezed. He squeezed back. Kirito was actually able to sense that Asuna was there. It made her happy and sad at the same time. She smiled, and shed a tear. His grip was strong.

"Miss umm….."

"Asuna."

"Miss Asuna, if you don't mind, may I ask why you're smiling?"

"Because I know that Kirito is going to make it. His grip is strong."

"Oh. Well, we'll be at the hospital in just a minute or two. Just be aware of that." Asuna nodded. But she didn't worry. Kirito was going to pull through. He had never let her down before. And he most certainly won't now.

Time Skip: 10-15 Minutes

Asuna had left her cell phone in her locker. She was bored. The news was on in the waiting room, but Asuna didn't want to hear about all the recent killings or the stock market. She just wanted to be in the same room with Kirito. Just to make sure he didn't let her down.

"Yuuki Asuna." She bolted upright. "Dr. Mendelev wishes to see you." Asuna walked through the wooden double doors that separated the waiting room and the ICU. "He's on the second room on the right. Room number 104."

"Thank you." Asuna entered the room. The doctor was taking Kirito's heartbeat.

"So you must be Asuna." The doctor turned around. He was old, russian, and smelled faintly of alcohol. "I have a few questions for you." He pulled over a second stool. "Please, sit down. This may take a while." Asuna thanked him and sat down.

"Hello, Asuna." Kirito's voice was comforting and very scary at the same time.

"Hello, Kirito. I'm glad to see you're awake. Does your head still hurt."

"Yeah, a lot. But I'm glad they gave me some anesthetic."

"Enough of this small talk. I have some questions to ask her." He turned to face her. "One: Were you with Kazuto when he experienced this?"

"Yes I was. But why are you asking me these questions?"

"Because Kazuto may have suffered memory loss. Two: Has this ever happened before?"

"No. This is the first time it's happened."

"You two seem close. What do you think could have caused this event to happen." Asuna got nervous. She looked at Kirito to see if she could get his approval. He nodded.

"Well, I'm absolutely positive that you are familiar with the Sword Art Online crisis that happened about 26 months ago?" The doctor nodded. "Kirito was one of the beta testers for that game. He spent more time on it than anyone. And he was also trapped in the crisis for two years, just like me. But, after he beat it, I was not able to escape like everyone else. So, Kirito spent a few weeks searching for me in other games. And the Nerve Gear that he had was one of the oldest models. In other words, Kirito has spent unrealistic amounts of time using an old Nerve Gear."

"I see." The doctor took a few notes. "Well, actually, this is not actually very serious. Kazuto should be fine. And it doesn't seem that the game did anything. My hypothesis is that prolonged exposure to dangers in the ld Nerve Gear, such as radiation. He can go home now if he wishes. Or he can stay until tomorrow morning. I'll give you a few minutes to decide." The doctor got up and left the room.

"Does this mean that I can't ever play videogames again?" Asuna smiled. And then laughed. "What's so funny?"

"I can't believe that's your first thought after you have a near-death experience. This is why I love you."

"I love you too." He lost his smile. "But really though, can I ever play videogames again?"

"Probably. But you may have to get a new Nerve Gear. One of the newer models, I mean. Or a custom one. This sounds like it could be a potentially serious problem."

"Okay. I'll be the one to worry about it. You don't need to worry at all about this."

"No, Kirito you don't understand. This is going to be a problem if it keeps happening. I'm going to worry about you. Even if you don't want me to worry about it. I'm always going to worry about you. I've worried about you ever since we got out of Alfheim."

"Asuna, why do you insist? You should trust me. Just listen to what I have to say. I can look after myself. I will worry about my own problems. You worry about yours. I just don't want to get other people involved with things that will only concern me." Asuna didn't want to argue with him. "I think I'm going to spend the night at the hospital. If it happens again, at least I'm already in a place where they can treat me right away. What do you think?"

"I think that that is probably a very smart idea."

"Are you going to spend the night here to?"

"I hope so. Do you have your cell phone."

"Yeah. The nurses put it on that table over there. Are you going to call your dad?"

"Would you let me?" Kirito nodded.

"Hello?"

"Hey dad, it's Asuna."

"Oh, hey. Is something wrong? You should be in school right now."

"Actually yes. Kirito is in the hospital right now. He's been having problems with his head. He's decided to spend the night at the hospital. Would it be okay if I spent the night here with Kirito?"

"It sounds like he needs you there. Okay. I'll let the school know that you won't be there for the rest of the day. I'll also let them know that you'll be late tomorrow. Good bye, Asuna. I love you."

"Thanks so much, dad! Good bye, I love you too." She handed him his phone back. "Thanks for letting me call my dad."

"It's not a big deal."

"Okay, good. Now scooch over. Give me some space on this thing." Kirito did as he was instructed, but it was a pretty tight squeeze.

"I haven't heard anyone call you Yuuki for a while. In fact, you never called yourself by that name in front of me before."

"Oh, ummm…. well."

"I think it's a cute name. I would prefer to call you Yuuki rather than Asuna."

"Okay fine. I'll let you call me that if you let me call you Kirito instead of Kirigaya. Deal?"

"Deal." Yuuki adjusted herself so that she was sitting straight up with her back against the wall. Kirito did the same to match her. "Do you think that that doctor guy is going to come back soon."

"I think he will soon. I want to know what he says about my condition."

Time Skip: 7 Minutes

"Knock, knock." The doctor guy walked into the room. "I have the report on your condition. Would you like to read it? Or should I just tell you?"

"Just tell us. I want to know what's wrong. And plus, I probably wouldn't understand it if I read the report."

"Fair enough. Kazuto, I'm sorry in advance." That made Kirito flinch a little bit. "With the samples that we got, it appears to be a virus. And a deadly one. This virus seems to have entered your body while you were stuck in that other world. There was probably some form of radiation or something in the Nerve Gear that directly impacted your brain and immune system. Or The Nerve Gear messed up your brain somehow, and that affected your immune system. Which allowed this virus to sneak by. But we actually don't know how it it happened. Or quite possibly that this virus used to be a different virus that was always inside you, like a vaccine. And while your body was in a comatose state, it mutated and replicated itself by the thousands. And it slowly took over your body. It has been replicating itself inside for probably around two years. And we have no idea what this virus can do. And do you know what we can't do to viruses?"

Yuuki spoke. "Viruses can't be killed. They can't be cured."

"Correct. And this virus seems to be very deadly, we are about eighty percent positive about that. And because Kazuto is the 'Patient Zero' of this disease. We have no way to treat you." Kirito was absolutely speechless. He couldn't even move. Yuuki was even more mortified. "Kazuto. I'm so sorry to tell you this. And I know that I told you this before, but we have no way to treat you. Your death cannot be prevented. And it will probably happen very, very soon."

Remember to tell me if you want to continue reading. I hope you all enjoyed it. ttrq, out.


	2. Chapter 2

Sorry, it's been nearly two and a half months since I uploaded the first. But I'm back (somewhat). Anyway... here's chapter two. I'm sorry it's so short. I wrote this while I was in study hall. Also please follow me on tumblr, my name is t-t-r-q. I'll most likely be posting stuff that I'm planning to write in future chapters. Thanks if you can.

Chapter 2: Some Things

"Kirito….?" At least two hours had passed since the little confrontation with the doctor. Asuna had begun to worry. Kirito hadn't spoke since then. Not since he was released, not on the walk to the park, and not after the hour that they had been sitting on the bench. "Answer me please, Kirito. Please…." He still didn't respond. He didn't even move his head in the direction of his girlfriend. He just stared at the horizon.

"Asuna. I have something to ask you." Kirito moved his head. He didn't didn't smile, didn't blink. He just looked into Asuna's eyes. "Is that okay?" Asuna nodded once, slowly, and with insecurity.

"If you had the choice to save me… would you accept it?"

"Of course. I would do anything to save you?"

"Now, what if I told you that someone, somewhere in the world would die. It could be an American. A Brazilian. A Frenchman. An Indian. Anyone, including yourself. A child, an adult, a baby, or even someone decades older than both of us combined. Or even someone who is very close to you. Or perhaps one of your family members. Would you be willing to sacrifice someone innocent, or even someone guilty, to save me?"

"I…..I….. I don't know." Asuna took a deep breath. "I don't want to kill anyone. I want people to live. They deserve to live. I don't want to kill anyone in order to save you. But if I had the chance, I would give up my life to save you. I don't mind dying as long as my death would be enough to save someone." Kirito smiled.

"I'm glad you think that. I personally believe all of us were put in this world to serve a purpose. And it seems that my purpose is coming to an end. Or maybe it has just begun. I don't know. I might not have even begun it yet. But when I do die, I'm just glad that I made a difference to thousands of people. No, probably tens of thousands of people. I might not have even supposed to do that. Maybe it wasn't what my life was intended for. but my death won't be meaningless." He stared at the horizon for another second. "What are you going to do, Asuna? Are you going to do something amazing after I die? Or maybe even when I'm still alive? Or perhaps you've already changed someone's life. I hope everyone can do this. I don't want anyone's death to be meaningless." A cool breeze blew by. It was getting colder as the sun went down. And Asuna had been cold for a while. "My head really hurts, you know."

"What?"

"It hasn't stopped hurting since I woke up. And I'm going to live with this pain for the rest of my life. At least, that's what I think. But I've been wrong before."

"That's horrible. You don't deserve to live like this."

"No one deserves to live a painful life. But that pain will always make them stronger with every scar and scrape and wound that they get. And I'm going to get stronger until I die." Asuna shed a tear. Then another. And then one more.

"I don't want you to die, Kirito. Suguha doesn't want you to die. No one does." Kirito pulled her in. She was shedding tears as fast as bullets know.

"When I die…." she slapped him. Hard and fast. Kirito had never been so surprised.

"Stop being so pessimistic." She choked those words out between sobs. "You don't know if you're going to die. The doctor doesn't. I don't. But all of us sure as hell hope that you're going to die." Each word was a battle. A long and hard battle. But they sure as hell got out.

"Okay. I won't talk about it anymore. Until I get better, or until I leave. I will never talk about it again. I promise you." The sun had almost fully set now. The breeze came again. And most of the people were gone. Kirito and Asuna still sat on the bench. And the leave still fell. Everything had to change at some point, something always does change


	3. Chapter 3

Hello all. I'm keeping it short today. Please leave a review, follow me on tumblr at t-t-r-q. And please don't cry. Have a good day.

Chapter 3: And Yet Again

"How has the pain been since we last met? Has it gotten worse? Better? The same? Has it changed places at all? Stuff like that."

Three weeks had passed since Kirito had been released from the hospital.

"Nope. Hasn't changed at all. If anything, it's spread a little bit. But I doubt that." Kirito had been doing this for three weeks. Three times, each on a monday, he had gone back to the hospital for his weekly check-up. And each time, he had met Dr. Shido. And all three times she asked him the same questions. Each time, Kirito said almost the exact same things.

"Okay. Thank you for coming in."

"I should be the one thanking you, doctor."

The pain was relentless, it never stopped, never slowed. It remained a constant pain in the ass to Kirito.

"Whatever you say." A giant throbbed surged through Kirito's head. _Here it is. Again. This sensation. _

Almost instinctively, Kirito grabbed his head with both his hands. "Kirito…..?" Kirito collapsed. He rolled onto his right side. And then he screamed. The virus had launched another one of its attacks.

"Help." Kirito barely managed to squeeze the words out of his mouth. He started to black out. But he could make out a few words.

"Patient…..23…"

"Roo…. 23-...F"

"Kirig…..Ki….to.."

"He….. king…. out…"

Stubbornly, the virus would not let him escape the pain. It seemed to want Kirito to feel all the pain that it was giving him. And it wanted Kirito to see all the trouble that he was causing. In a whisper, "Please stop." No one heard him. No one was even paying attention to what he was trying to say.

Kirito was suddenly weightless. His arms dropped from his head. _What's going on? Am I dead? I can't be. I can still feel all the pain. And I can still hear all the voices and alarms and medical equipment around me. _

Kirito could only make out one voice amidst the sea of them. It was Dr. Shido. "Kirito, you're stronger than this virus. You can live for five more minutes. We all know you can." He heard her snap a few things at the nurses, but he couldn't hear her at all. "Kirito. I hope you can hear me. But I have some morphine right here. I'm going to inject it into your right arm. This is just to help dull the pain. Even if only temporarily. Good luck. And don't die on us." Despite being stuck in a game where a sharp sword could actually kill you, Kirito didn't like needles. He thought it was ironic. Afraid of a little poke of a needle, and not afraid of a giant sword wound.

The pain went away almost instantly. And at that moment, Kirito didn't black out. Kirito simply fell asleep.

*** Time skip: 63 minutes

Kirito opened his eyes. He felt good and refreshed. And then he remembered the pain that was in his head.

"Holy shit, Kirito! We thought you were going to die after you blacked out. I'm just so damn happy that you're awake." Asuna flung herself at Kirito.

"Woah, woah. Asuna, relax. I'm okay. And just so you know, I didn't black out. I just took a little nap. And second of all, this thing isn't going to kill me. Nothing other than me can kill me."

"I sure as hell hope so. And you're going to live. I just know that you'll survive." Asuna got off him. "Suguha is coming too. She'll be here any minute. And they let me out of school way early so I could come and check on you.:

"That's nice of them." Kirito looked out the window. It was a nice and sunny day. But it did have some rain clouds in the distance. "Asuna."

"Yes?"

"Move out of the way for a second." She looked confused at first. Then she immediately understood. Not even have a second after Asuna got out of the way, Kirito threw up all over the floor where Asuna was standing. "I hate morphine."

"Should I get a nurse?"

"No. I'll be okay. I feel better now anyway."

"Kirito… I have something… important to ask you." Kirito was confused. He didn't really understand.

"What is it?"

"Are you having any problems with your vision?"

"No, of course n-" Kirito did notice something different. His field of view seemed smaller. And everything was much fuzzier. And it made him feel nauseous. "What the hell? What happened?"

"This is speculation. But the doctors noticed it. It seems that your pupil in your left eye has gotten all cloudy or something like that." Asuna looked like she was about to cry. "They say you've gone blind in your left eye. They think that the virus did something to your brain or eye or something that caused it to shut down."

"Asuna. Listen to me. Just for a second." Asuna stared, eyes watering, not blinking, and the saddest he had ever seen her. "I'm not mad at you, let me say that now. But why were you the one telling me this?" Kirito sounded irritated. Mad even. But he was dead serious.

"The doctors gave me a choice." She said between sobs. "They said that I could tell you, or that they would." She was pretty much crying now. "Neither choice sounded good. But I wanted to tell you." One tear snaked its way down her cheek.

Kirito leaned over as best he could, as gave her the most reassuring hug that a terminal-illness patient could give someone who was suffering. "It's okay. I'm not mad at anybody for this, remember that. It's no ones fault. But listen to this, I'm super happy that they have you a choice. I would've much rather been told this news by someone I love, rather than someone who doesn't even love me." He let her go. "But, I cannot give you a choice. I cannot let you choose rather you would want to end your suffering now, or choose if you want to suffer with me for a while. I could die right now, and neither of us would have a choice.

"My point is, sometimes life gives us questions in which we don't like either answer. And so we choose to ignore the question until it's being shoved right in our face. Then we have to choose. It's not the best way to choose. But we have to do it."


	4. Chapter 4

Sorry to stress this but, PLEASE LEAVE A REVIEW FOR THIS CHAPTER AND PREVIOUS AND FUTURE ONES. I live to see the feedback on my stories and I die a little inside and get a little sad when I see no reviews on my stories. Thanks if you can. Enjoy.

Chapter 4:

Here was Kirito again, two weeks later, sitting in front of Dr. Shido. Except this time, the questions were slightly different.

"Has the pain gotten worse since the last attack?"

"Much worse. It seems that one moment I went to sleep with a little bee sting, and then when I woke up again, I had a thorn embedded in me. It's just that much worse."

"Is the medication working?"

"Yes. It is. It numbs the pain so much. I can actually think just a little straight when I'm taking it. The days when I run out or forget to take it are like shit. It screws up my day so damn much."

"And how's your left eye doing?" Since Kirito lost his vision, his eye had gotten very glossy. It looked seemingly shinier than his right one. And it had started to get a little lazy too. But It wasn't a very big deal. To Kirito, at least.

"It's doing fine. I mean, other than the fact that's it completely lost its vision."

"Okay. That's all for today. Thank you for coming in."

"Of course." Kirito stood up. But then turned around to face the doctor. "What are my options?"

"About what?"

"My options. All of them. I want to know."

"Well, right now it seems we only have two options. The first: we let you keep on living and see where this virus goes. It seems that it won't go anywhere, as it seems to be thriving in you and we also have zero way to kill it. That's our first option.

"Second:..." she paused for a second or two before answering, but not before she looked like the most guilty person in the world. "Euthanasia. We could euthanize you."

"May I ask what euthanasia is, exactly?"

"Have you ever heard of the death penalty?"

"Yeah. I have."

"Euthanasia is essentially a death penalty for those who are about to die. But the patient decides whether he wants to, of course. And it's not at all a penalty. There have only been a few cases in Japan so far, I think. And it's legal almost nowhere in the world."

Kirito paused, and weighed the consequences of these two choices that were being presented to him. "I don't like either option much." He walked out the door. "But let's see where this virus goes. I'm not ready to die yet. And I'm the only person that can kill me."

Asuna was waiting in the hospital lobby for him. She gave him a big smile and a hug. "What did the doctor say?"

"Nothing much. She just asked me the same questions as she always did. And then she told me abo…" Kirito trailed off. _Damn. I said too much. Now she's going to ask me about it. Holy shit. I'm so stupid. I didn't want her to worry. _

"About what, Kirito?" He didn't answer, all he did was look away at the floor with an expression of self-loathing. "Kirito. Please. I want to know."

"No. I'm sorry. Trust me. You don't want to know."

"Fine then. I need to know."

"Fine. Since you have the right to know." He snapped at her. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to get irritated. I just…. Never mind." He calmed down a bit. "The doctor told me I have two options at the most right now. She said that I could keep going for a while until I get better, or until this virus gets to me. But she also said that the virus most likely won't go away. And they can't kill it either. I thought this was the choice she wanted me to make.

"The second choice she said, was euthanasia. You know what that is right?"

"Ummm. No. I've never heard of that."

"Okay." Kirito sighed. "Euthanasia is like putting down a beloved pet. Except for sick people. Like, really sick people. Sick people that are like me. Except we have to be a walking corpse, pretty much. She said that they could euthanize me, and end this pain."

"That's horrible. Why is that even a thing?" Asuna was hugging Kirito. Kirito was just standing there, still self-loathing. "Please don't get euthanized, Kirito. We need you here. In this world."

"I promise. I will never get euthanized. I will never let anything other than me, kill

me. That's just the way it's gonna be. And the way it always will be." Kirito had to practically pry Asuna off him. "Let's go get some food." All Asuna could do was nod.

"What if there is a third option? What if the doctor was wrong? Even a fourth of fifth." Asuna spoke for the first time in an hour or two.

"I've been thinking about that for a while, too. And I've only come up with one possibility. But it's the worst choice of the three. And I want to avoid it as much I can."

Asuna could tell that Kirito didn't want to say it out loud. She knew that Kirito would only use this option as a last resort.

"Kirito….. I know what you're thinking. And I don't want you to do that."

"How do you know what I'm thinking? We could have entirely different mindsets for all we know." He wasn't mad, ironically. He didn't snap at her. He said it as calmly as he could.

"We could. But probably not. Maybe not. I just don't want you to leave us. Don't pack your things and leave me, Suguha, Klein, Yui. Don't leave. We want you and need you."

"That wasn't what I was thinking. I was thinking of something entirely different. And plus, I promised to never leave any of you, didn't I?" Asuna was confused and startled. Before she finally understood what he said. "I'm never going to abandon any of you. I'll make sure I'm with you till the very end."

"Well then, what was your third option?"

"As I said before, I hate this one. And I hope and I never have to do it." He stopped walking and turned to face Asuna. "The worst option I could think of, was suicide." Those words hung heavily for a second. "That was what my third option was. But I'm not gonna do it. Never. It's like the third option that isn't even an option."


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5: False Hope

"And for our final story tonight, we have quite a bit of a lengthy story. We're sending you out to Takashima Rei, who is covering this story."

A new man appeared on the screen, presumably Takashima Rei. "This young man has done things that most teenagers can only dream of." A picture of Kirito flashed across the screen. "Kirigaya Kirito, this young man was trapped in the infamous video game, _Sword Art Online, _along with ten thousand other players. Except, if they died in the game, they would die in real life. Of the ten thousand, only 6,147 players made it out safe alive. And Kirito was the hero that got all 6,147 of them out. But now, only a few months after Kirigaya and the other players escaped, he has been diagnosed with a life-threatening virus. Of which the world has never seen."

This time, Takashima and Kirito were sitting face to face in the style that is seen on news shows. "Kirigaya, if you don't mind me asking, how many people did you see die in the game?"

"I don't mind answering. But please, call me Kirito." He paused briefly to clear his throat. "I don't know exactly how many I saw die. And I don't think I want to remember. I've seen my comrades be killed by the in-game monsters. I've seen my comrades be killed by other horrible players. I've seen players be killed by their ignorance and over-confidence. I've even seen one of my guild members commit suicide. I'm almost positive that others have seen more of their comrades die then I have. And I have sympathy for them."

"And what about those who killed other players? Do you have any sympathy for them? Since they also most likely saw comrades die."

"It kinda depends. If they were killing other players intentionally and for fun, absolutely not. If they were only killing others because they felt absolutely threatened, or in self defense, I still have mixed feelings."

"I know that you may not like this question, but did you ever have to kill another player?"

"You're absolutely right, I do not like this question at all. But I will still answer….. Yes, I did. But only three. I personally think that's three too many. But know this, they were evil players. They were members of a guild that went around and killed other players. And they attacked us, I did not attack them first. So, naturally I defended myself and my comrades. If I had my choice, I would have choose not to have killed them."

The scene now switched to Takasima walking down the street. "Kirito is a very good young man, despite what he's seen and done. But now his newest challenge is to face the new virus that he has. We have never seen this virus in Japan before, and we believe that no other country has. The bad thing about this virus, is that it's incredibly lethal."

The scene switched back to Kirito and Takashima. "Kirito, how did this virus first make its appearance 'noticeable'? If that's a good way to put it."

"No, I understand. The first time I noticed that I had this virus was about a month ago. I was in school and suddenly I got a really bad headache. I ignored it at first, but eventually it was as if there were thousands of explosions going off right inside my head simultaneously and non-stop. I fell to the ground and screamed. And I think I blacked out after that, I don't remember much more."

This time, Takashima was sitting at a picnic bench. "Kirito has already suffered two of these 'attacks' from the virus. The first, was that day at school. The second, about three weeks ago. Both were about the same, head-splitting headache and unbearable pain. Except, after the second attack, Kirito has reported to losing all sight in his left eye."

Yet again, the familiar over the shoulder shot. "Do you think the virus is going to

disappear, or do you think it is going to get stronger and bigger?"

"Ever since it was discovered in me, the symptoms have only been getting worse. I always have a constant headache. And it just keeps getting worse each day. And now it's claimed my left eye. I am being very pessimistic about this. I don't think I'm ever going to get a break. I'm never going to be given hope. All I can do is wait day to day and just watch where I end up."

"What do you think the people that were in the game with you feel about you right now? Assuming that they see this newscast."

"I don't really know. But I am almost certain that their feelings have not changed about me much. There are those who were super grateful to finally get out, and they are most likely still thankful to me. And now, I think some feel sadness about what I'm going through, and some just don't care.

"Then there were those who didn't want to leave the game. I thought that they think of me as someone who destroyed what they loved and wanted. I think that some hate me, others just kinda were a bit sad that they had to leave. And now, I think most still feel the same way. But, I also think that some of them are feeling a bit sad about how I'm suffering and almost certainly going to die. Most feel that way, at least I think so. But I could be way wrong."

The scene changed back to the news anchor. "Well, it seems our young friend is fighting an entirely different battle than just a few months ago. We sure hope that he is able to receive medication and get rid of that nasty virus. Thank you for tuning in, and see all of you tomorrow morning."


End file.
